Borough Facing Incinerator Shutdown Dilemma

Jay Barrett/KMXT

The Kodiak Island Borough is facing a fast-approaching deadline to shut down its incinerator out at the landfill. Borough Manager Bud Cassidy said the deadline was originally at the end of the year, but was pushed back to the end of February. 

The number of users for the landfill’s incinerator is surprisingly large and varied:

“The types of things that we use the incinerator for, there’s really five different waste streams: one’s medical waste, sharps, those kinds of things from hospitals, clinics, dentist office  vets, even in our restrooms, we have the red sharps containers, incineration of pets by euthanasia, cremation of a family pet, sensitive documents as well as oily rags and absorbents.”

“He said borough staff has been reaching out to affected businesses to let them know about the looming deadline and what options there might be:

“We also are3 putting together a list of options. Joe Lipka has spent time tracking down the fact that there’s a medical waste, an approved incinerator in Anchorage, and he’s going to provide those contact numbers to those businesses that need it.”

“And while there will be no way to cremate a house pet, Cassidy said there are other options for dealing with them and some of the other items that used to be incinerated.

“Apparently we’re allowed to bury euthanized animals, but they have to be below a bale of garbage. Deceased pets that folks what to cremate, they can send it to Anchorage. Sensitive documents Threshold has a shredder. Oily rag and absorbent materials there probably any number of companies around town that have smart ash burners that can burn that material.”

Cassidy said that before the EPA began shutting down local incinerators, there were 6,000 in the nation. Now, Kodiak’s is just one out of only 113 nationwide.